The Women's Sports Foundation Releases Report on Chicago Girls and Partners with the Chicago Foundation for Women; Commits to Activating Chicago's Girls Through Physical Activity, Education and Grants
The Women's Sports Foundation released “The Status of Female Youth Health and Physical Activity in the Chicago Metropolitan Area” that has shown that Chicago and Illinois girls rank worse than the national average on nine out of 14 health indicators including nutrition, teen pregnancy and sport team participation. In partnership with the Chicago Foundation for Women, the Women's Sports Foundation announced the launch of GoGirlGo! Chicago, a three-year community campaign aimed at getting 100,000 of Chicago's inactive girls moving, 6,000 of those by April 1, 2005 and stopping the drop out rate of another 100,000 currently active girls.
Sport and physical activity participation is a fundamental intervention that addresses health risks with research demonstrating that girls who play sports or engage in physical activity are lower risk for heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes, teen pregnancy, smoking and drug use. Girls in general do not receive the same encouragement, opportunities or support to participate in sports as boys and drop out of sports at a rate twice that of boys. Currently, Illinois is ranked 36th out of 50 states with regard to female athletic participation (39.6% of student-athletes are female, 60.4% are male). Female youth in the Chicago metropolitan area are not getting sufficient physical activity, either through sports teams, physical education classes or independent fitness programs and when compared with national averages, the following results were revealed:
• Sports team participation: Just 44.8% of female high school students in Chicago participate on one or more sports teams, compared with the national average of 51%.
• Vigorous physical activity: Only 38.3% of female high school students in Chicago participate in sufficient vigorous physical activity each week, compared with the national average of 55%.
• Physical education class attendance: Of Chicago female youth, 57.3% attend physical education classes one or more days a week, compared with the national average of 52.8%.
• Obesity and Overweight: Female high school students in Chicago (11.5%) are more likely to be obese than the national average of 9.4%. Mirroring a national trend, Black, non-Hispanic females in Chicago are more likely to be obese (13.9%) than Hispanic (12.7%) or white (5.7%) females. Additionally, 19% of Chicago youth are at risk of becoming obese, compared with the national average of 15.3%.
• Sedentary lifestyle: More than half of female high school students in Chicago (52.5%) watch three or more hours of television compared with the national average of 37%.
• Nutrition: Only 15% of female high school students in Chicago consume the recommended five or more servings of fruit and vegetables per day, compared with the national average of 20.3%.
• Health-risk behaviors: Generally, fewer female high school students in Chicago smoke cigarettes, participate in binge drinking and plan suicide than the national average. However, Chicago (15%) does have a higher rate of teen pregnancy than the national average (11%); and a slightly higher use of marijuana (21.4% vs. 19.3%).
The Women's Sports Foundation has partnered with the Chicago Foundation for Women to demonstrate how the community of Chicago can get inactive girls to become physically active and stop the drop-out rate among currently active girls. GoGirlGo! includes a $500,000 grant fund to support the physical activity programs of metro Chicago girl-serving agencies, provision of free national award winning curriculum materials that have demonstrated changes in the attitudes of girls toward physical inactivity and other health risk behaviors, a public education campaign and technical support and assistance for physical activity program providers.
“We accept the challenge extended by the Women's Sports Foundation – and are thrilled to take the lead in Chicago,” said Isabel Carter Stewart, Executive Director of Chicago Foundation for Women. “Let the fundraising, grant-making and physical activity begin. Ready. Set. GoGirlGo!”
“GoGirlGo! Chicago brings together an entire community to encourage, activate and aid in the overall well-being of Chicago's girls,” stated Dominique Dawes, Women's Sports Foundation President. “It is about investing in the physical activity of every girl and encouraging her to believe in her abilities rather than how she looks. We must change the way that girls see themselves and GoGirlGo! Chicago is doing just that by providing positive, influential resources to the female youth of Chicago.” Dawes is joined by other Metro Chicago leaders who are acting as spokespersons for the program:
Merri Dee- WGN-TV Channel 9, Public Service Director
Cheryl Lynn Gudinas, Racquetball – Pan American Games medalist, International Racquetball Federation VII world champion, U.S. Olympic Festival gold medalist
Juanita Jordan- M and J Endowment Fund, Vice Chair
Billie Jean King- Women's Sports Foundation, Founder
Pam Schaffrath, Baseball/Football – Member of the Colorado Silver Bullets, member of the International Women's Football League's Chicago Fire
Sarah Tueting, Ice Hockey – Two-time Olympic medalist, Ivy League Rookie of the Year
Bridget Venturi Veenema, Baseball – American Gladiators champion, Cavigal Gerland Cup champion, member of the Colorado Silver Bullets
Willye White, Track & Field – Five-time Olympian, two-time Olympic medalist
Hillary Wolf, Judo – Olympian, senior national champion, junior world champion
GoGirlGo! national sponsors Advanta; Gatorade; Moving Comfort, a division of the Russell Corporation; and the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company are joined by GoGirlGo! Chicago Grant-Making Partner Chicago Foundation for Women, Champion Sponsor Hull Family Foundation, Patron Sponsors Kraft, Life Time Fitness and Windy City Times and Donor Leo S. Guthman Fund. All of these corporate and foundation sponsors are critical in providing support for girls' programming throughout the Chicago area.